Dear Motorist;
I am a cyclist. As the weather warms and cycling season approaches, I find myself considering the open animosity with which some of you regard me. I hope that most of this animosity stems from a lack of understanding. So maybe if I can help you to understand me a bit better, you won’t hate me so much.
First of all, please stop telling me to “get off the road”. I cannot over-emphasize the fact that bicycles DO NOT belong on the sidewalk. The sidewalk is for pedestrians. It is in fact illegal for anyone other than a small child to ride a bike on the sidewalk. Cyclists who ride on the sidewalk are breaking the law and endangering the safety of pedestrians and themselves. Bicycles are classified as vehicles under the Motor Vehicle Act, and as such belong on the road.
My bike is not a toy. It is my primary means of transportation. I am not riding my bike on the street because I enjoy annoying you, thwarting you, or getting in your way. I am just trying to do the same thing you are trying to do: get from point A to point B.
While my bike cannot go as fast as your car, in rush hour traffic I can usually keep up with you or even overtake you. Sometimes I overtake you repeatedly. I am not doing this to be a smartass. Once again, I am just trying to get to my destination. My vehicle is smaller and more maneuverable than yours. It’s not personal.
Please get over the idea that I am committing some unforgivable effrontery by being in front of you at an intersection. If I am making a left turn, I need to be in the left hand lane. Unless I am heading uphill, I am capable of accelerating almost as quickly as a car. I do not take any longer to turn left than an SUV. If I am going straight through an intersection, I will position myself in the centre of the lane. I do this so that a vehicle will not pull up beside me and turn right into my path and run me over. If you are behind me and you want to make a right turn, you will have to wait for the light to change, just as you would if I was driving a car.
You are wasting your breath when you roll down your window and shout at me. Your vehicle is noisy, as are all the other vehicles around us. Unless we are stopped side by side at an intersection, I can’t hear you.
I have a better view of the gutter than you do. If I am not riding as far to the right as you think I should be, it is because there is something dangerous in my path. There is also an area which cyclists call the “door zone”. It extends about three feet to the left of a row of parked vehicles, and it is one of the most dangerous places for a cyclist to be. Smart cyclists ride far enough into the lane to be clear of the door zone. You can help alleviate this danger, and prevent damage to your vehicle, by always checking for oncoming cyclists before flinging open your door.
I am going faster than you think I am. A fit cyclist is quite capable of traveling 50 km/h on a flat road. If you wouldn’t make a left turn into the path of an oncoming car, you shouldn’t make one into my path either.
Occasionally, a situation arises where I am obstructing your passage. Maybe we are going up a hill and I can’t go as fast as you want to go, and there is no way for you to pass me safely. These situations are uncommon and only last for a few seconds. If you were to tally up every second you lose in a day because of cyclists, even at the height of the cycling season, I assure you it would be less than five minutes. I realize you don’t know me, but is my life so worthless to you that you would endanger it to save yourself five minutes?
And finally, there are bad cyclists: people who ride on the sidewalk, coast through stop signs, weave through traffic, don’t signal, and commit a multitude of other sins. These people make all cyclists look bad, but they are a small minority. Most of us are well aware that the most likely outcome of bad cycling is a dead cyclist.
This article appears in Jan 10-16, 2008.
This is by far the best response from a cyclist to motorists that I have ever seen. One of the best aspects of it is that it doesn’t reek of that ‘anti-car- sentiment’ that a lot of bicycle commuters taint their responses with in regard to cycling.Cycling in HRM can be trying at times, but in about 15 years of commuting I have experienced relatively few problems. Sure, there have been problems, but not to the level that some of the extremists out there would lead the general public to beleive.Folks, get out there and ride your bikes! Its a beautiful day! Don’t let the anti-car hippy-dippies scare you into walking or taking the bus! (or just giving up and driving a car, ha ha)
i NEVER ride bike, ever. But It REALLY angers me when people bitch about cyclists. So GREAT job on this one!!!!!!!! this should be published, and mailed out to everyone in HRM so the drivers can understand for once.Personally, as a pedestrian, i would PREFER that a cycalist ride on the sidewalk. I dont mind stepping to the side (unless its a busy pedestrain street like spring garded/barrington, etc) But I think that me stepping over to the side to let a cycalist go past me, is better then them having to drive in the road with a 2 ton killing machine blaring down the road. It doesnt make sense to me. But again, great job on this one!!!!! FINALLY an educated bitch!
Thanks so much for spelling it out – roadways are to be shared. If idiot impatient drivers could slow down and use their heads (instead of their coffee cups, cell phones, lipstick, et al), there would be so much less tragedy on our roads. Bravo for your excellent bitch!
Phenomenal address of the “sharing the road” issue. I think the tone is very respectful and the comments are informative. I am a cycle-commuter and have had my fair share of run-ins with impatient drivers, although I too would like to think that when presented with the cyclist’s perspective in your Dear Motorist letter (and I love that you noted the environmental and physical fitness motivation), they will better understand what it’s like for a cyclist on the road. Maybe now we can share the road and each get to where we’re going in one piece!
I agree that we, as drivers, are legally obligated to share the road. That is a very articulate and well thought out post. However, I would like to add that if all cyclists were as “road savvy” as yourself, OP, there would likely be little anomosity. The problems arises from the asshats who cycle, but don’t share in this my bike is a vehicle mentality. We have all seen them. They don’t stop at four way stops. They will suddenly move across an intersection as a pedestrian would (as its quicker for them). Or they cut across traffic with no signal or notice. I’m certain these types of riders are the bane of your existence, Coyote. But from my POV as a driver, they seem common. I’m incensed by these cyclists that want the best of both worlds. They want to be treated as a vehicle, but then also want the benefit of quick shortcuts, etc. Get more cyclists on the same page re: THE LAW, and the anomosity will decrease greatly – from this driver anyway.
Believe me, asshat cyclists that ride irresponsibly piss me off as much when I see them while I’m riding as they do when you’re out driving. I hate watching the shenanigans of those people, because it makes it worse for the rest of us. But think about it like this: how many times a day are you out driving that you experience or witness the poor driving habits of your fellow drivers? Probably a good number, if you were to bother keeping count, right?
@DYou make some good points. Yes, those riders (I balk at calling them “cyclists”) are indeed the bane of my existence. Every time I am walking and one of them rides past me on the sidewalk, I want to clothesline him. And there are a lot of them.But I suggest to you that the bad ones are the ones you notice. Cyclist who ride safely and responsibly hardly show up on your radar. You don’t notice us because we don’t do anything to piss you off. And there are more of us.I’d like to see the police step up and ticket people they see riding bikes on the sidewalk, riding across crosswalks, and otherwise trying to have it both ways.
Being both a cyclist and a driver, I can easily see both points of view on this. so, I’ll keep this short and to the point: As long as you signal, and don’t pass on the right, I’m with you. the minute you pass on the right where I’m not expecting you and give me a small heart attack, I lose any and all respect for you.
Having driven a car (or 3) for 30 years now, I can surely say that I have 4 priorities in mind while driving in the city (Halifax or Montreal). 1. Pedestrians – by far the most vulnerable.If I hit one in my vehicle I will probably kill him/her. 2. Cyclists – Equally vulnerable. Same result as pedestrians. 3. Trucks – I can’t compete. If we collide, I lose – hands down.4. Other vehicles about my size. If we collide I have a fighting chance at living to see another day.
I love my bicycle and I bike alot but when I see a bicycle in front of a car i t annoys me because if that bike falls over you will most likely be hit. I was always taught to bike on the SIDE of the road there is nothing more annoying than a bike in front of your car the other day I just passed someone riding a bike. most cyclist I see are not fast and insist on biking slowly infront of your car. I don’t know why I care to respond to this its just a biker
Did you ever consider that the person on the bike was turning left at some point?In the rotory I take up a full lane for two reasons:1. So that I am seen,2. So that I don’t get run over by cars turning right onto Dutch Village Road or right up to St.Margarets Bay Road.I encourage everyone else to do the same.
@Zac;I find it unlikely that you ride your bike “a lot”. If you did, you would have discovered that occasionally it is neccessary to turn left, and that the far right is neither the easiest nor safest, nor indeed the legal position from which to do so. I submit that you were “taught” by someone who had no idea what they were doing.
the turning left question has a lot of drivers twisted up — for example, the bitch who almost ran me into her driver’s door yesterday by passing me on the right (too close!) and turning suddenly in front of me. she claimed i was required to stay to the right all the time, and that i was wrong to want to turn left. STOOOOOPID!also, the sidewalk issue — it’s not illegal everywhere, but not advised anywhere — except by stupid drivers, of course.
Last summer I biked up to River John (small place on the North Shore not far from Pictou) to Halifax and then back to Halifax the next day. 320km in total. Not a single problem.And then 2km from my door a stupid idiot makes a quick pass and turn into the PetroCan. “She didn’t see me so obviously I was at fault by attempting to pass her on the right”.Too funny, 320km and I get cut off 2km from home on what is my daily back and forth to work commute. Go figure.
Still the best ever.